TUTORIAL #1

This tutorial provided good insight about the overall interface of After Effects and the basics about how to navigate the program upon initially opening it.

I need to remember the “renaming files” aspect, because that is something that is different than most of the Adobe programs I am familiar with.  The website says:

“You can change the name of any file listed in the project window by clicking on it and pressing the Return key. Changing the name in the project window does not change the files real name.”

Also if you right click on the footage, you can replace it which I think is helpful to know (I’m guessing this is sort of like links and smart objects that are used in Photoshop and InDesign).

https://cgi.tutsplus.com/tutorials/after-effects-for-beginners-getting-started–ae-195

TUTORIAL #2

This tutorial used the camera tool, which covers how to use the z-axis, depth of field and camera position.

I learned when the camera flips: right click on camera layer>transform>auto-orient>off.

TUTORIAL #3

This video goes into transferring illustrator files to After Effects, and how to use the graph editor. The video uses the “fit graphs to view” button to make the graph easier to see. The result was making a shape grow bigger, and then snaps back, which I have previously been doing by just adding more scale keyframes. It also goes into more basic techniques that we have already learned like rotation, positioning, anchor points, etc.

TUTORIAL #4

This tutorial discusses the puppet tool, and the different types of puppet tool you can use.

TUTORIAL #5

This tutorial also discusses the puppet tool, and goes into detail about the different uses of the puppet tool in relation to characters made in Illustrator. It’s interesting to learn about what sort of actions can appear realistic when bringing a character to life in the form of animation. I learned more about changing the mesh so that there is more mesh to create less error in the image and more smooth, purposeful movements.